Google Wave opens extensions gallery

The Mountain View Chocolate Factory has unveiled an extensions gallery for Google Wave, the still-gestating browser-based app that crossbreeds email with IM and document sharing.

First unveiled at a Google developer conference last May, Wave offers APIs for developing extensions to the platform and embedding its conversations in websites and blogs. The new extensions gallery - announced today - appears as a link in the navigation panel that runs down the lefthand side of the Wave UI.

The gallery displays extensions as a list of "waves" - the multifaceted conversation threads that serve as the platform's basic building blocks. These waves include installers that then add the extension as an option on the toolbar that appears when you open a wave. The gallery is pre-populated with about 15 extensions.

Earlier this month, Google introduced version 2.0 of the Wave "robot" API, which can create a kind of automated user capable of participating in the platform's online conversation in much the same way real users participate. The new API lets robots active push information into a thread - rather than simply responding to the actions of real users.

If you build your own extensions, you must submit them to Google for review. Wave is still in "preview" mode, and it can't be used without a private invitation. ®